Cost of dying, other services may rise

The cost of dying looks set to go up as the Dunedin City Council signals plans to hike a host of fees later this year.

The council's 2010-11 pre-draft annual plan, to be considered by councillors next week, includes proposed increases in 38 different types of fees associated with the city's cemeteries, including the cost of burials, interments, cremations and exhumations.

If accepted by councillors at Wednesday's annual plan hearing, the additional charges would come into force with the new plan on July 1.

The cost of burial rights for an adult would rise from $1353 to $1488, an interment from $1010 to $1111, exhumation from $1785 to $1964 and cremation from $578 to $636, the pre-draft plan showed.

The proposed increases were among across-the-board hikes in fees signalled in the document - most of them small - covering the council's swimming pools, sports grounds and city planning and building control services.

Among them, the cost of a 12-swim pass for an adult at Moana Pool would rise from $52 to $55, as would pool hire, from $210 to $240 for the 50m pool.

The majority of the council's fees for the use of sports grounds would also increase, including the use of rugby union, rugby league, hockey and football fields with facilities (from $1347 per season to $1367) and cricket fields (from $2318 per season to $2353).

A range of land-use and subdivision consent charges would also rise, including the deposit for a notified land-use consent, from $2000 to $3000, as would the cost of planning-legislation paperwork and processing costs for city planning.

Building-control charges for requests for information and property searches would also climb, as would the cost of property reports and some applications, such as for a shared stormwater drain, building WOF fees and general building consent charges.

However, building consent fees would not go up again this year, following last year's increases.

The cost of dog registration and impounding fees would increase, as would those for stock impounding and control.

Some parking fees would increase, including the fee for a resident's parking permit, from $150 to $153, but not infringement fines, which were set by statute.

Landfill charges would inch up again at Green Island, Middlemarch and Waikouaiti, from $14 to $15 for a car, from $25 to $28 for a station wagon and from $37 to $41 for a car and trailer, van or ute.

Increases were also on the way for some resource consent monitoring and Environmental Health fees - including for hawkers, from $135 to $138, and mobile shops (excluding food vendors), from $180 to $184.

The council's trade-waste customers inside the Tahuna catchment would also face higher treatment plant-contaminant unit rates.

chris.morris@odt.co.nz

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